Commonwealth v. Long’s Empirical Analysis
2007
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 35 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions — most recently October 2025 · most notably Commonwealth v. Liston (2009), Faulk v. Philadelphia Clerk of Courts (2015)
4 federal appellate · 35 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia · Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc. · Press-Enterprise Company v. Superior Court of California Riverside County · Globe Newspaper Company v. Superior Court for County of Norfolk · Press-Enterprise Company v. Superior Court of California for County of Riverside
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“are used by the judge in rendering a decision[.]”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“The value of openness lies in the fact that people not actually attending trials can have confidence that standards of fairness are being observed; the sure knowledge that anyone is free to attend gives assurance that established procedures are being followed and that deviations will become known. . Openness thus enhances both the basic fairness of the criminal trial and the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“The “logic” inquiry focuses on “whether public access plays a significant positive role in the functioning of the particular process in question.” In conducting this inquiry, a court should consider whether the process enhances the fairness of the criminal trial as well as “the appearance of fairness so essential to public confidence in the system.” These considerations are related as they “shape the functioning of governmental processes.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.